This isn't the first time that Masahiro Sakurai has expressed his reasoning behind the character selection process. We know that the Super Smash Bros. series represents the wonderful and colourful universe that is Nintendo, and despite the fact that Super Smash Bros. is a fighter, just adding 'fighting characters' would only detract from the vision that Sakurai has created. This is what he had to say on the subject in this months GamesTM Magazine.

Masahiro Sakurai: “The biggest feature we look at in Smash Bros. is, ‘What does this character bring to Smash Bros. that other characters don’t?’ If you look at… someone from a fighting game already, and people like fighting with this character, from my point of view, it’s like ‘this guy does what this guy already does. He fills the role that this character already has. So while you may like this character and he’s interesting, that doesn’t really merge well, here.”

Now some people may point out the 'clones' being just as bad as including any old fighting character, but you can't argue the fact that Super Smash Bros. Brawl has improved on that front when compared to melee, and so far during it's development, it's looks as though Sakurai & Co. are working hard at bringing us the most unique and diverse character roster that you would ever see in a fighting game let alone Smash Bros.

Those hoping for some 3rd Party 'fighters' may be displeased to hear his views, but hey, there are many top-quality traditional fighters out there already and many more over the horizon but there's no other video game series like Smash Bros.